authentik vs Keycloak
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
authentik
Open-source identity provider with proxy outpost
VS
Keycloak
Open-source identity and access management for modern apps
| Feature | authentik | Keycloak |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reverse Proxy & Gateways | Identity & SSO |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,666 | ★ 36,058 |
| First released | 2020 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Okta, Auth0 | Okta, Auth0, Microsoft Entra ID |
Why pick each one
Choose authentik if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 23.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is authentik or Keycloak better?
Neither is universally better. Keycloak has the larger community, while authentik is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are authentik and Keycloak free and open-source?
Yes. authentik is licensed under MIT and Keycloak under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run authentik and Keycloak with Docker?
authentik: yes. Keycloak: yes.